A place to ponder

M7 bolt for Bontrager seatpost clamp

I’ve googled this post’s title quite a lot since I snapped off my saddle last week on the way home from work. It turns out that Bontrager like to use very odd sizes of bolts that you local bike shop is unlikely to stock. In fact most people I spoke to were of the opinion I’d have to buy a whole new seatpost. Not so.

Exactly the same thing has just happened to me. Thanks for the tip on where to find a new bolt but I’m wondering if the M7 is inherently too weak given that we have all had them snap from under us? Might be a better idea to get something more substantial?

Just snapped my cap screw today. That looks exactly the same as my seat clamp assembly. You’re not kidding about bontrager using odd sizes. Cannot find an M7 here in the states. Plently of M6 and M8’s. Im curious, did you have to saw the end off??? I saw something that said it was 45mm long. Im off to Scheels tomorrow where I bought my Trek.

Same thing happened to me – my Bontrager saddle on my Trek snapped resulting in a back splat on a busy road and a busted elbow. Just ordered my M7 replacement but worried about getting it on – if the bolt size is unusual then maybe i won’t have the right tool to put it on!?

Thanks – just ordered two. Unfortunately I had already spoken to two bike shops and the second one who is normally very good I bought a new seat post from!!!! So now with bolts in place I will have a spare ready to go if I ever have the need.
Cheers

Hi we’ll some 4 years since first posting and people still having the problem this has happened to my wife on the way home luckily she was not injured and fortunately the bar nut was caught in the cycle lock wire which was coiled under the saddle well some time spent visiting local cycle shops the be surprised not one could supply? For something that a lot of us suffer. I found out the bolt was a caped M7 bolt from one engineering firm but they didn’t stock as it tended to be a specialist size. So from search the good web eventually found your post and have ordered two bolts today hoping not to require the second but one in hand. As some one mentioned a issue of quality I would have said as the bolt I have sheared at the point the thread starts after the shoulder under the head as to someone’s posting in the middle. Thanks for highlighting your supplier I wait to get replacement and replace the current M6 nut and bolt I have used to keep the cycle on the road.

Was looking forward to a couple of happy hours scouring the internet for that little baby and you’ve just spoiled my fun. Now I’ve got to do some accounting I was putting off – ruined my evening I can tell you. Thanks anyway. Jonathan. x

Looks like I am the newest member of the ‘elusive M7 sheared-off Trek bike’ club. like most of you, I have spent a couple of days looking for the impossible; an M7 bolt for my Trek 7.5fx saddle which failed 5 miles from home last week. Even a Trek dealer told me I needed an M6 which, obviously, was wrong. Will now order the item from your recommended dealer. Thanks for brightening up my grumpy mood. Steve

Latest member of Trek splat on the pavement club here! Got away without too much damage – cuts and bruises thankfully. Found this page after visiting Halfords and finding out the bolt’s an unusual size. Ordered from Stig, delivered next day and bike now up and running!

Thanks happened to me last night luckily I didn’t lose any family jewels or tear myself a new………My dear wife picked me up took me home.
Then the search took me all places last night B&Q no, Halfords, no, screwfix, no, just did a quick internet search this morning and found this!
Thank you Andy!
Just placing order with stigs now. Currently hashed together a m6 cot bolt arrangement and sitting gingerly all the way into work this morning.

Same for us. Wife’s Bork snapped where thread meets head. Nasty. Tumble and shocked. We scoured hardware shops in France same as other folk 6 or 8 no problem.

Temporary fix – 7mm thread rod , washers and nuts. That will do for the week but ordered via link for a proper job , after reading the rest of the thread install an order. A new one for. My trek and swap out as a pre-empt.

Thanks for finding this and people bothering to post to keep this live.shame on trek as this does appear to be a quality issue on. Otherwise brilliant bikes.

Hi – following up from my last post – the Stig bolt would only stay tight for minutes before becoming loose. I am not sure why. It didn’t come with a washer and the head was a bit bigger than the original, so perhaps it wasn’t flush. Either way I bought a new seat post (Ritchey Comp 2-Bolt Seatpost – £27) and can now ride without fear of impalement.

Same issue…bolt snapped (thankfully it happened at less than 20kmph as was slowing at lights) and visited all local hardware stores…got a 50mm x 7 but cannot tighten properly so just ordered 2 from Stig…hoping it’ll tighten properly. Great that this info is being kept alive, many thanks!

Thank you Sir!
Had the same issue last week, was told in 3 different shops I had to have the seatpost changed
Found this page, order from Stig, it arrived in 24hours! first class delivery. Totally recommend

Wow. seven year old post and still happening. Thanks for the info. Had assumed it would turn out to be imperial but no imperial size seems to match. Just ordered. In the meantime have used an M6 Barrel Nut from bed spares 🙂

Same happened to me today. I was ridding my Trek 7.4 FX on a path, at slow speed, and suddenly the Bontrager seatpost clamp broke and saddle fell off.

I managed to get the parts from the ground, and the M7 bolt had snapped.

I am not specifically overweight, the saddle was not in a weird angle, too forward or backward, and the bolt being vertical does not bear any weight anyway, it’s just keeping the clamp together. Some serious manufacturing issue here, and no advance warning of failure…

Man alive. Thank you so much for this. Bought an M8 bolt from Halfords assuming it was the right thing. Of course it wasn’t. Given the number of posts on here maybe we have grounds for a class action against Bontrager.